NEW YORK — Rain "flash-freezing" on roads and sidewalks left an icy glaze under feet and tires
across much of the northeast on Sunday, causing crashes that claimed at least five lives.
A crash involving 30 to 50 vehicles on Interstate 76 outside Philadelphia killed one person, and two
others died in a crash involving multiple vehicles on nearby Interstate 476, police said. In
northeastern Pennsylvania, a man was killed after his car overturned on an icy road and he was thrown
from it and hit by a commercial vehicle. In Connecticut, police cited slippery conditions in a crash
that killed an 88-year-old woman who struck a utility pole in New Haven.
"This is the worst type of winter precipitation to combat, because it can freeze instantly and it
doesn’t need to be the whole pavement for vehicles crossing it to have problems," Pennsylvania
Department of Transportation spokesman Eugene Blaum said.
Kaitlyn Maier grew up in upstate New York but said that didn’t prepare her for the icy conditions she
encountered trying to get from her home in Philadelphia to her niece’s baptism.
"I’ve driven through snow a lot, and this isn’t like anything I’ve ever driven in," Maier told
The Associated Press.
She came upon the I-76 wreck moments after it happened and saw a jumbled line of cars extending around
the bend ahead of her. "We were stopped for a while on the side of the road. I was going less than
10 mph, but I had no control of my vehicle."
Freezing rain and snow was expected in interior parts of New England, but the temperature was expected to
rise into the 40s and 50s along the coast and change the precipitation to plain rain in time for the
evening AFC Championship Game between the Patriots and Indianapolis Colts.
On the West Coast, high winds left tens of thousands of customers without power in the Seattle area, but
power companies promised Seahawks fans they’d do their best to restore power before the NFC title game
against the Green Bay Packers.
In eastern Oregon, highway officials partially reopened Interstate 84 Sunday after a massive crash blamed
on black ice Saturday closed more than 160 miles of eastbound lanes. Rain was expected in western Oregon
Sunday and Monday, but not as much as fell on Saturday, when 1.8 inches of rain in Portland sent some
untreated sewage into the Willamette River.
Dozens of spinouts and accidents were reported from northern New Jersey to southern New Hampshire on
Sunday and treacherous conditions forced the closure of the New York State Thruway from Newburgh to New
York City during the morning. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority warned travelers on New York
City’s Metro-North commuter railroad to beware of ice on staircases, platforms and parking lots.
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